Lorenzo Tondo
The Guardian / September 23, 2024
Jerusalem – Plan calls for Palestinian civilians to be forced out and Hamas militants put under siege in ‘closed military zone’.
Sources quoted by Israeli media have said Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza and put Hamas militants who remain in the area under siege in order to force the release of hostages.
The plan, published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, calls for the area to be declared “a closed military zone” after civilians have been told to leave.
The Israeli national broadcaster, Kan, quoted the Israeli prime minister as saying the blueprint “makes sense” and that it was “one of the plans being considered”. An Israeli official quoted by CNN confirmed the veracity of the quote but said: “Seeing it positively does not mean adopting it.”
According to the UN, between 300,000 and 500,000 Palestinians, most of them displaced, are living in the northern part of Gaza.
The retired Israel Defense Forces major general Giora Eiland, a former IDF strategist and a previous head of Israel’s national security council, explained the main steps of the plan in a video published two weeks ago.
“The reality today in Gaza is that [the Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is really not stressed,” he said in the video. “The right thing to do is to inform the approximately 300,000 residents who remained in the northern Gaza Strip, citizen residents, of the following: not that we are suggesting you leave the northern Gaza Strip; we are ordering you to leave the northern Gaza Strip.
“In a week, the entire territory of the northern Gaza Strip will become military territory. And this military territory, as far as we are concerned, no supplies will enter it. That is why 5,000 terrorists who are in this situation, they can either surrender or starve.”
Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced. An estimated 1 million people – half the population – are crammed into a designated humanitarian zone that comprises less than 15% of the territory and is lacking essential infrastructure and services, according to the UN. Humanitarian access to northern Gaza is especially difficult, it has said.
The plan does not tackle the question of what would happen to Palestinian civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave. The Likud MP Avichai Boaron, who has reportedly promoted the plan, did not respond to a request for a comment when contacted by The Guardian.
Prof Eyal Zisser, the vice-rector of Tel Aviv University and an expert on Lebanon and Arab-Israeli relations, said Netanyahu had so far refrained from detailing what his vision or plan was for the “day after” in Gaza or when the war would end.
“Since there is no chance in the near future for a deal or a ceasefire, this means that the current situation will continue as it is – limited military operations by Israel in the Gaza Strip, but not full occupation,” Zisser said.
“The fear in the Israeli army is that such a thing allows Hamas to restore its military capabilities and its ability to control the population, since a vacuum has been created which Hamas exploits. That is the reason behind the idea that some of the generals have had that in practice Israel will control and establish a kind of military government in the Gaza Strip.”
Lorenzo Tondo is a Guardian correspondent
